Former Shaw coach files pay discrimination lawsuit against the school
Christina Coleman, a former volleyball and softball coach at Shaw University, on Wednesday filed a lawsuit in Wake County Superior Court against the school alleging she was paid less for coaching the two sports than her male coaching counterparts.
Coleman, who resigned from Shaw in 2019, alleges she and other female coaches at Shaw complained about sex-based discriminatory practices and that she requested her pay be equal to the male coaches’ pay.
Coleman, who was at Shaw for one academic year, is seeking compensatory, punitive and equitable relief in addition to attorneys’ fees, and has requested a jury trial.
The lawsuit alleges a history of disparate treatment of women employees by Shaw which it claims resulted in the female coaches being injured as a class.
Lucera Parker, director of public relations at Shaw, said Wednesday the school does not respond to ongoing legal matters or employment disputes.
Coleman now is the volleyball coach at Central State University, an NCAA Division II school in Wilberforce, Ohio.
Employment discrimination charges filed
In December 2018, Coleman filed employment-discrimination charges at the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. On September 23, 2019, acting EEOC District Director Thomas Colclough wrote to Coleman that “there is reasonable cause to believe that violations of the EPA (Equal Pay Act) and Title VII (of the Civil Rights Act of 1964) have occurred” in her case against Shaw.
Coleman is being represented by attorneys Amos Jones of Washington, D.C., and Quintin Byrd in Raleigh.
“Christina Coleman had a great run but realized very early on that she was being paid half as much for the job she was doing relative to her male counterpart coaches at Shaw,” Jones said in an interview Wednesday. “When she raised the issue for corrections she was targeted and eventually things became so hostile that she left and resigned.”
Jones said mediation failed to resolve the issue and the decision was made to file suit. Jones said Coleman also has a second retaliation charge against Shaw that is pending before the EEOC.
